// converted to AsciiDoc from https://github.com/gettalong/kramdown/blob/master/benchmark/mdbasics.text
# Markdown: Basics
John Gruber
:s: link:/projects/markdown/syntax
:d: link:/projects/markdown/dingus
:src: link:/projects/markdown/basics.text

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<ul id="ProjectSubmenu">
    <li><a href="/projects/markdown/" title="Markdown Project Page">Main</a></li>
    <li><a class="selected" title="Markdown Basics">Basics</a></li>
    <li><a href="/projects/markdown/syntax" title="Markdown Syntax Documentation">Syntax</a></li>
    <li><a href="/projects/markdown/license" title="Pricing and License Information">License</a></li>
    <li><a href="/projects/markdown/dingus" title="Online Markdown Web Form">Dingus</a></li>
</ul>
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## Getting the Gist of Markdown's Formatting Syntax

This page offers a brief overview of what it's like to use Markdown.
The {s}[syntax page] provides complete, detailed documentation for
every feature, but Markdown should be very easy to pick up simply by
looking at a few examples of it in action. The examples on this page
are written in a before/after style, showing example syntax and the
HTML output produced by Markdown.

It's also helpful to simply try Markdown out; the {d}[Dingus] is a
web application that allows you type your own Markdown-formatted text
and translate it to XHTML.

NOTE: This document is itself written using Markdown; you
can {src}[see the source for it by adding \'.text' to the URL].

### Paragraphs, Headers, Blockquotes

A paragraph is simply one or more consecutive lines of text, separated
by one or more blank lines. (A blank line is any line that looks like a
blank line -- a line containing nothing spaces or tabs is considered
blank.) Normal paragraphs should not be intended with spaces or tabs.

Markdown offers two styles of headers: _Setext_ and _atx_.
Setext-style headers for +<h1>+ and +<h2>+ are created by
"underlining" with equal signs (+=+) and hyphens (+-+), respectively.
To create an atx-style header, you put 1-6 hash marks (+#+) at the
beginning of the line -- the number of hashes equals the resulting
HTML header level.

Blockquotes are indicated using email-style \'+>+' angle brackets.

.Markdown:
[listing]
....
A First Level Header
====================

A Second Level Header
---------------------

Now is the time for all good men to come to
the aid of their country. This is just a
regular paragraph.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy
dog's back.

### Header 3

> This is a blockquote.
> 
> This is the second paragraph in the blockquote.
>
> ## This is an H2 in a blockquote
....

.Output:
....
<h1>A First Level Header</h1>

<h2>A Second Level Header</h2>

<p>Now is the time for all good men to come to
the aid of their country. This is just a
regular paragraph.</p>

<p>The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy
dog's back.</p>

<h3>Header 3</h3>

<blockquote>
    <p>This is a blockquote.</p>
    
    <p>This is the second paragraph in the blockquote.</p>
    
    <h2>This is an H2 in a blockquote</h2>
</blockquote>
....

### Phrase Emphasis

Markdown uses asterisks and underscores to indicate spans of emphasis.

.Markdown:
----
Some of these words *are emphasized*.
Some of these words _are emphasized also_.

Use two asterisks for **strong emphasis**.
Or, if you prefer, __use two underscores instead__.
----

.Output:
....
<p>Some of these words <em>are emphasized</em>.
Some of these words <em>are emphasized also</em>.</p>

<p>Use two asterisks for <strong>strong emphasis</strong>.
Or, if you prefer, <strong>use two underscores instead</strong>.</p>
....

### Lists

Unordered (bulleted) lists use asterisks, pluses, and hyphens (+*+,
+++, and +-+) as list markers. These three markers are
interchangable; this:

----
*   Candy.
*   Gum.
*   Booze.
----

this:

----
+   Candy.
+   Gum.
+   Booze.
----

and this:

----
-   Candy.
-   Gum.
-   Booze.
----

all produce the same output:

....
<ul>
<li>Candy.</li>
<li>Gum.</li>
<li>Booze.</li>
</ul>
....

Ordered (numbered) lists use regular numbers, followed by periods, as
list markers:

----
1.  Red
2.  Green
3.  Blue
----

.Output:
....
<ol>
<li>Red</li>
<li>Green</li>
<li>Blue</li>
</ol>
....

If you put blank lines between items, you'll get +<p>+ tags for the
list item text. You can create multi-paragraph list items by indenting
the paragraphs by 4 spaces or 1 tab:

----
*   A list item.

    With multiple paragraphs.

*   Another item in the list.
----

.Output:
....
<ul>
<li><p>A list item.</p>
<p>With multiple paragraphs.</p></li>
<li><p>Another item in the list.</p></li>
</ul>
....

### Links

Markdown supports two styles for creating links: _inline_ and
_reference_. With both styles, you use square brackets to delimit the
text you want to turn into a link.

Inline-style links use parentheses immediately after the link text.
For example:

----
This is an [example link](http://example.com/).
----

.Output:
....
<p>This is an <a href="http://example.com/">
example link</a>.</p>
....

Optionally, you may include a title attribute in the parentheses:

----
This is an [example link](http://example.com/ "With a Title").
----

.Output:
....
<p>This is an <a href="http://example.com/" title="With a Title">
example link</a>.</p>
....

Reference-style links allow you to refer to your links by names, which
you define elsewhere in your document:

----
I get 10 times more traffic from [Google][1] than from
[Yahoo][2] or [MSN][3].

[1]: http://google.com/        "Google"
[2]: http://search.yahoo.com/  "Yahoo Search"
[3]: http://search.msn.com/    "MSN Search"
----

.Output:
....
<p>I get 10 times more traffic from <a href="http://google.com/"
title="Google">Google</a> than from <a href="http://search.yahoo.com/"
title="Yahoo Search">Yahoo</a> or <a href="http://search.msn.com/"
title="MSN Search">MSN</a>.</p>
....

The title attribute is optional. Link names may contain letters,
numbers and spaces, but are _not_ case sensitive:

----
I start my morning with a cup of coffee and
[The New York Times][NY Times].

[ny times]: http://www.nytimes.com/
----

.Output:
....
<p>I start my morning with a cup of coffee and
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/">The New York Times</a>.</p>
....

### Images

Image syntax is very much like link syntax.

.Inline (titles are optional):
----
![alt text](/path/to/img.jpg "Title")
----

.Reference-style:
----
![alt text][id]

[id]: /path/to/img.jpg "Title"
----

Both of the above examples produce the same output:

....
<img src="/path/to/img.jpg" alt="alt text" title="Title" />
....

### Code

In a regular paragraph, you can create code span by wrapping text in
backtick quotes. Any ampersands (+&+) and angle brackets (+<+ or
+>+) will automatically be translated into HTML entities. This makes
it easy to use Markdown to write about HTML example code:

----
I strongly recommend against using any `<blink>` tags.

I wish SmartyPants used named entities like `&mdash;`
instead of decimal-encoded entites like `&#8212;`.
----

.Output:
....
<p>I strongly recommend against using any
<code>&lt;blink&gt;</code> tags.</p>

<p>I wish SmartyPants used named entities like
<code>&amp;mdash;</code> instead of decimal-encoded
entites like <code>&amp;#8212;</code>.</p>
....

To specify an entire block of pre-formatted code, indent every line of
the block by 4 spaces or 1 tab. Just like with code spans, +&+, +<+,
and +>+ characters will be escaped automatically.

.Markdown:
----
If you want your page to validate under XHTML 1.0 Strict,
you've got to put paragraph tags in your blockquotes:

    <blockquote>
        <p>For example.</p>
    </blockquote>
----

.Output:
....
<p>If you want your page to validate under XHTML 1.0 Strict,
you've got to put paragraph tags in your blockquotes:</p>

<pre><code>&lt;blockquote&gt;
    &lt;p&gt;For example.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
</code></pre>
....